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You’ve built up your email list by adding opt-in forms on your website, collecting addresses from lead magnets like contests and gated content, and adding opt-in checkboxes to online orders. Now, you’ll need to determine how you will take care of your list and nurture and support your subscribers. After all, they signed up to receive communication – your subscribers want to hear from you!
One of the best ways businesses can engage with subscribers is with an email newsletter. As one of the most common and useful types of email marketing, newsletters can be used to keep your subscribers up to date with your company in a way that adds immediate value to their life. Here are our tips on why you should send an email newsletter, what you should include, and how often to send it.
The purpose of an email newsletter is to nurture your prospects and customers with a consistent stream of content, so you can stay top of mind. It can also help position your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Keep in mind, newsletters are not something that’s generally used as a hard sales tactic. Newsletters should feel like an update from an interesting, helpful friend, rather than a pushy sales pitch. However, that’s not to say newsletters are used only to keep in touch. Due to its very nature, email newsletters can spark sales. By maintaining regular contact with your subscribers, you will build trust with your audience that can ultimately motivate them to act, whether that is making a purchase or driving them to your website through your latest blog post.
When thinking about what to include in your email newsletter, you’ll want to consider your company’s goals. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Improve customer loyalty and retention? Establish your brand as a thought leader?
Think of your newsletter as a way to nurture new leads in a slow, non-invasive way, while engaging your current customers with consistent communication that will help maintain those relationships. While you can certainly pepper in a promotion or a sales opportunity here and there, you’ll want to first seek to establish your company as a thought leader by sharing engaging and valuable content. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 87 percent of B2B marketers use email marketing to distribute their content. This makes email the third most popular distribution channel, just behind social media at 91 percent and the company website or blog at 89 percent.
Within your email newsletter, consider including:
By continually demonstrating your expertise, you will develop credibility with your subscriber base and enhance your value with your customer. Subscribers will start to associate positive feelings with your brand and will be more likely to seek you out for help when they need a solution to a problem or a job to be done.
Once you’ve established your goals and content strategy, you’ll then want to think about the frequency at which you will send your email newsletter and how this will directly tie into your goals. While it can be tempting to send out an email newsletter every time you have something new and exciting to share, it’s considered best practice to show some restraint and stick to a schedule. Aim to send a newsletter at least once a month, but generally no more than once a week.
Depending on how engaged your subscriber list is can help you determine how frequently you should be connecting with them. Companies with highly engaged audiences may want to send a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter. For other companies, it may make more sense to send out a newsletter on a monthly basis. Use key metrics like open rate and click-through-rate (CTR) to help you decide what will best nurture your audience and not push your subscribers to unsubscribe, so you can keep your list engaged, connected, and informed.
Need help building up your mailing list, crafting the perfect email campaign or increasing engagement with your subscribers? Aztek’s team of email marketing specialists can help! Contact us today to see how we can help generate high-quality leads and increase engagement through our email marketing services.
